Got Revenue? Meet Investors This Thursday

Sup ya’ll!

These past few months have been WILD. I started out playing matchmaker for early-stage founders and investors. Then I became a Deal Flow Partner for LvlUp Ventures, and suddenly my inbox looked like a billionaire's group chat. Hotels in Europe. Private jets. Infrastructure projects. Film slates. Then investment firms, family offices, VC’s and alternative lenders started sliding into my DMs asking to partner.

So I did what any reasonable person would do and followed the money. BLKBOOK now sources $10M+ deals for private capital markets: 12+ capital partners and $405M+ in deal flow from 15 different countries in 15 days. That’s definitely record breaking. And founders, don't worry, I haven't ghosted you. This Thursday, Nov 5, I'm hosting Founder + Investor Matchmaking: Revenue Edition. Think speed dating, but everyone at the table actually makes money.

Here’s what’s on the agenda:

• 💸 Nov 5 Revenue Edition: this Thursday, revenue-stage founders meet investors who are actively writing checks. Seats are filling.

•  🚀 $10M+ Deal Room results: $405M+ in deal flow from 15 countries in 15 days.

• 🔥 New capital partners: 12 firms on board, plus the kinds of deals I'm working right now.

• 📋 Got a deal? The new way to submit one.

• ⚡️Build your own deal room: a FREE tool that maps out yours in about a minute.

• 🗞️ What I'm reading: the venture and private capital news worth your time.

💸 Founder x Investor Matchmaking: Revenue Edition

Thursday, Nov 5 · 11am–12pm PT · virtual

One hour. Up to 12 five-minute 1:1s. Pre-seed and seed founders who already have revenue, matched with investors who are actively writing checks at this stage.

Founders: Founder seats open as investor seats fill, and they go fast. 👉 Register here

Investors: Free to attend. One hour of pre-screened, revenue-generating deal flow. Reply to this email and I’ll add you to the invite.

🚀 The $10M+ Deal Room: The Receipts

In October I ran a test: a curated room for $10M+ deals, with deal sponsors on one side and capital providers on the other. I gave it 15 days of sourcing. Here's what came in.

More than half the deals got a thumbs-up from capital partners, and nearly every one of those turned into a booked call. That's what happens when deals get in front of capital that already said the mandate fits, instead of sitting in five pipelines collecting dust.

🔥 New Capital Partners and the Deals I'm Working

I now have referral partnerships with 12+ capital firms, and every one of them came to me inbound. That's the formal list. The wider investor network is a lot bigger, and new firms reach out every week.

Who's on the money side:

• Family offices

• Venture capital firms

• Capital advisory firms that place $10M+ deals

• Private lenders and alternative financing providers

Between them, they cover equity, debt, real estate, project finance and venture, from pre-seed checks to nine-figure deals.

First big win: I sourced SyberJet, the light-jet manufacturer building a fractional jet ownership program, and signed them with one of my capital partners to raise $25M.

I'm managing 122 deals right now. Here's how they break down by size:

And here's what kinds of deals they are:

Want in? I'm always adding new capital partners. If you're an investor, lender or fund looking for deal flow, or you want me to curate a deal room around your specific buy box, book a call with me here.

📋 Got a deal? Submit it!

No more "just send me the deck" email chains. Every deal now comes in through one short form. Here's what happens after you hit submit:

1. You fill out the form (about 5 minutes): what you're raising, how much, the structure, your traction and where you're based.

2. I anonymize it. Your company name and contact info come off. Investors see the deal, not who you are.

3. I send it to the investors and lenders who actually fit. Not a blast to everyone. Only the partners whose thesis/mandate matches your deal type, size and region.

4. If someone's interested, they tell me. Then I either make a direct intro, or I match you with them in the next deal room.

Founders, sponsors, owners and intermediaries are all welcome. If nobody bites, I'll tell you, instead of letting your deal rot in a pipeline.

👉 Submit a deal here

🔧 How to Build Your Own Curated Deal Room

Anyone with a network can run one: a startup, a B2B company, an accelerator, a fund, a broker, a community. Whoever you are, you're trying to get the right people in front of each other (or in front of you). A curated room does that on a schedule, and you're the host of every conversation.

Every room is one of three types:

How to set it up:

1. Pick your room type and who's in it. Buyer and seller, an ecosystem, or a peer group. Then name the exact people you'd invite.

2. Write 5 matching questions. Both groups answer the same questions with the same choices, like stage, industry, budget and timing. Matching answers mean a good meeting.

3. Fill the harder side first. Usually that's investors or buyers. Lock in a few names, then use them to invite everyone else. People say yes when they see who's coming.

4. Put it on a schedule. Monthly or quarterly. A set date gives people a reason to come back, and they start bringing you intros between rooms.

Want yours mapped out? I built a free tool. Tell it about your company and who you want to meet, and it gives you a plan for your own room: the right room type and who to invite, your 5 matching questions, how often to run it and where to find people. It even emails you a copy.

Build your deal room →

👀 What I'm reading

Venture hit $159B in Q3, and AI took 64% of it. Crunchbase counted a record 27 rounds of $1B or more last quarter, up from 16 in Q2. Global funding was still down 25% from Q2. Read more

My take: The money is real. It's just concentrating at the very top. If you're a revenue-stage founder outside the AI mega-round club, getting in front of the RIGHT investor beats getting in front of every investor.

310 new venture funds filed in the first three weeks of October. Together they reported about $8.2B, but the median fund that disclosed a size was only around $3.4M. Read more

My take: That's a lot of small, hungry emerging managers. They need deal flow, and they don't have a brand that brings it to them. Hello, curated rooms.

Over 40% of seed and Series A dollars this year went to rounds of $100M or more. Crunchbase found that more early-stage money is going to proven and serial founders, too. Read more

My take: First-time founders, your network is your unfair advantage now. Go build it on purpose.